Volume 1 Chapter 14 Jin Wushu is here!
Life in the wilderness is hard, especially when everyone is waiting.
To be fair, Han Shizhong's marching speed was still very fast. On October 17, the troops finalized their strategy, and then galloped to various places in Jingdong to deliver military orders. Han Shizhong was not found until the 23rd.
There is a small episode here. It turns out that the commander of the left army of the imperial camp was originally suppressing a rebellion in Shanzhou (later Shan County, Shandong), which was only 300 miles away from the boundary ditch. However, he was extremely good at fighting, and he followed the orders given before departure. Soon after departure, he suppressed the rebellion and captured the bandits. However, he was summoned by his superior Liu Guangshi to help. By the time the messenger arrived, the rebellion here in Liu Guangshi had almost been suppressed by Han Shizhong.
However, after receiving the order, Han Shizhong did not neglect it at all. After congratulating Liu Guangshi, he led an army of 8,000 and turned back. On October 30, a fast horse came to report to the imperial court, saying that Commander Han had arrived at Mingdao Palace... and would reach the imperial court in two or three days.
However, even so, the officials in the imperial court could not help but feel bored... In the past, they could still discuss personnel appointments in various places and talk about local delegations and placements, but now the Huaixi bandits are blocking their way and the road is uneasy. After discussing the matters of Jingdong and Dongjing, there is really nothing to do.
So, the officials of the Song Dynasty began to use their traditional skills again, which was to attack each other.
A few days later, someone first impeached Yuwen Xuzhong, the Grand Secretary of the Zizheng Palace, for his mistakes during the Jingkang period... This was probably because this Grand Secretary had recently gained more and more favor and trust from the emperor, and there was a rumor that he was going to join the Western Palace (Privy Council), so everyone put themselves in Li Xianggong's shoes and was on guard for him;
Then, some people impeached Li Gang for being overly domineering and abusing his power to the point that he was trapped in the countryside... Not to mention this, just looking at Li Boji's performance, I wonder how many people would want to share your majesty's worries!
However, these were just minor actions, because the serious censors had not taken any action. If they really wanted to touch people like the prime minister or the grand secretary, the censors had to take direct action - according to the political tradition of the Song Dynasty, if the censors directly impeached the prime minister, the prime minister had to resign to prove his innocence.
At this time, the emperor can deal with it according to his own will, either keeping the prime minister and getting rid of the censor, or just go with the flow and dismiss the prime minister!
The same process was followed twice before when Li Gang was dismissed from his post as prime minister... And at this time, isn't the censorate under the direct control of the emperor?
On the evening of the first day of November, Chief Censor Zhang Jun, who had nothing to do, returned to his residence leisurely.
Although it was a residence, no matter how neat a temple in the wild was, how could it compare with the large royal palace like Mingdao Palace? So even though he was the Chief Censor, who was favored by the government at a young age and held great power, he was only assigned an elegant and quiet room in the temple, which didn't even have a living room. Even so, the neighbors on both sides were all scholars, ministers, and censors, and many of them had families... In this case, I'm afraid that any minister snoring at night would cause a dispute in the court.
In fact, it was because of his loud snoring that the scholar Xiao Han from the Ministry of Revenue was driven into a corner early by several other scholars who were bored.
Coming back to the present, Zhang Jun smelled a rare fragrance in the corridor before he entered the room. He shook his head and laughed. When he pushed the door open, he saw a pot of ginger and fermented black beans on the table in his room, and his two good friends were playing chess on the couch!
When one of the older men saw Zhang Jun coming, he immediately flipped the chessboard, stood up and said with a smile: "If Deyuan (Zhang Jun) hadn't come, Mingzhong and I would have starved to death in front of this pot of Jiang Shilang!"
Minister Jiang is another name for ginger.
It should be noted that even though the commodity economy was more developed in the Song Dynasty, it was impossible to cope with the weather. There were few vegetables in winter, and ginger and fermented black beans were a kind of jelly with ginger as the main ingredient. It could drive away the cold and add flavor. It was naturally a rare "fresh food" in winter, and it was also a top-grade food for drinking. In the past, every official in Tokyo had eaten this food. Over time, based on an allusion from the Five Dynasties, this food was given the nickname of Minister Jiang.
Zhang Jun was also happy to see the two, so he closed the door and sat down at the table without even saying hello. He first reached out and pinched a piece of meat jelly. After eating it, he excitedly said: "I didn't expect that there is also ginger and fermented black beans today. It's really rare!"
The two of them looked at each other, then sat down together. The younger one, Mingzhong, took out a pot of wine from somewhere, took the initiative to help set the table, and then poured wine for the two of them.
The three of them sat down, and the younger Mingzhong spoke seriously: "Brother Deyuan, you don't know, ever since the eunuch went to a distant market town to purchase that day and came back with a bucket of ginger and fermented black beans, there have been rumors in Yingzhou and Chenzhou that the emperor loves ginger and fermented black beans the most. So today, Chenzhou Governor Zhao Yuanxian came here to meet the emperor, and he brought several buckets with him. Many people got some! Just because Brother Yuanzhen has a large population, I gave my share to Brother Yuanzhen's sister-in-law, and then we all came to Brother Deyuan's place to eat the meat."
Hearing this, Zhang Jun shook his head and laughed: "Let's not talk about these things. The reputation of the emperor is really undeserved. It is quite like the stubborn prime minister who liked to eat venison."
After these words were spoken, the other two also shook their heads and laughed.
It is said that the eunuch in the imperial palace went out to buy something that day. By chance, he met a traveling merchant and bought a bucket of fermented black beans. What happened? The emperor only left one bowl for Concubine Pan that night, and gave the remaining half bucket to the trusted officers in front of the emperor, and the other half bucket to the important officials in the court. He did not eat a single bite... The place was small, and everyone knew about it in a short time. In the end, the emperor still liked to eat fermented black beans.
"Your Majesty is the Holy Son of Heaven!" After laughing, he drank the whole bottle, but Zhang Jun became serious and sighed. "Even wise rulers in ancient times might not be like this."
"Who says it's not true?" The older man also sighed. "This is the real meaning of giving away clothes to others and giving away food to others. What's even more rare is that they give away everything they have in times of trouble... It's a pity that there are still people who are not satisfied."
Zhang Jun's heart was slightly moved, but he took a piece of frozen meat and drank a cup of wine before he looked up. Then he pointed to the direction of the central hall and asked casually, "Who are you talking about, Brother Zhao?"
"Who else could it be? " Brother Zhao, that is, Zhao Ding Zhao Yuanzhen, shook his head and sneered again. "As a minister, he has no etiquette as a minister. The emperor himself did not even use it, but he was the first to give him the ginger and fermented black beans. As a result, when he found out, he scolded the emperor for going out without permission and going to the market, causing disturbances to the people. Obviously, the emperor did not want to disturb the people, so he did not go to the market at all. Even Yang and Liu, the two favorite generals of the emperor, were scolded, and Yang Yizhong was demoted one rank... It is said that several people who lived close to him, such as Lu Xianggong, Yu Wenshi and others, hurriedly distributed the ginger and fermented black beans to their subordinates, fearing that they would cause trouble. As a result, when he returned, he and his son ate comfortably."
Zhang Jun also shook his head when he heard this, but slowly responded: "It's okay, these are all trivial matters... Besides, after the emperor fell into the well, everyone knows that he trusts Li Xianggong this time, otherwise, Li Xianggong would not be allowed to sit in the middle hall to handle everything."
"I understand." Zhao Ding responded with a serious expression. "The overall situation does require him to be cautious. But wait and see. In three to five months, when Nanyang is stable, we will move to Luoyang. If he still treats Your Majesty like a child, I will definitely impeach him in person."
Zhang Jun nodded repeatedly, as if he agreed with the other party's opinion in his heart.
The young man , Hu Yin, Hu Mingzhong, didn't care about these topics at all. After pouring the wine, he drank by himself and had already secretly eaten half a bowl of frozen meat.
Zhao Ding is 43 years old this year, Zhang Jun is 12 years old, and Hu Yin and Hu Mingzhong are 13 years old. One is from Shanxi, one is from Sichuan, and one is from Fujian. They have different qualifications, ages, official positions, and places of origin. They are completely unrelated. If they were in Tokyo in the past, they would have to attend a court banquet if they wanted to drink together.
However, things are unpredictable, and these three people are now friends for life and death... really friends for life and death!
Thinking back to the Jingkang Incident when the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, these three people, plus the counselor Song Qiyu who was chopped off by Li Gang, either out of fear of death or out of desire to survive and maintain their chastity, fled together to the Imperial Academy, and together they abandoned Zhang Bangchang and took the initiative to join Emperor Zhao.
According to conspiracy theories, these people have already formed a small political group with extraordinary potential.
However, although this small group was close friends and extremely reliable, they clearly lacked a leader and organization (otherwise Song Qiyou would not have killed them), and each person had different political views... For example, Zhao Ding also wanted to fight against the Jin Dynasty, but he believed that the internal situation should be stabilized first, and then the restoration could be carried out; as the saying goes, one must first stabilize the country before fighting the enemy; Hu Yin was much more radical, he believed that the current emperor should not even ascend the throne, but should head north to welcome back the two saints; as for Zhang Jun, it was hard to say, but some people vaguely mocked him for being servile and trying to guess the emperor's intentions before making strategies!
Of course, in general, the same experience in Tokyo made them realize the barbarity and cunning of the Jin people, so they raised a common banner of no peace and determination to resist the Jin people!
Then, because of the generally low official positions before, there was an additional layer of selfish desire to support each other to get promoted.
In fact, the reason why Zhang Jun was able to successfully ascend to the throne that day was due to the cooperation of the three people... After Zhao Jiu issued the edict at that time, the three people who had already been suspicious made arrangements. Among them, Zhao Ding spoke with maturity and prudentness, Zhang Jun criticized Li Gang, and Hu Yin persuaded the emperor to cross the river to welcome back the two saints. They worked together.
In the end, after Zhang Jun won the bet, Zhang Deyuan did not forget his two good brothers. Zhao Ding was immediately recommended from the Ministry of Revenue to the Palace Censor, and Hu Yin was also recommended from the Recorder to the Secretary. They were all noble and important, and they could have daily contact with the government!
Obviously, now that the situation has paused, the oldest among them, Zhao Ding, is impatient again. Only Zhang Jun is now deeply favored by the emperor and knows that Li Gang cannot be easily shaken, so he appeased him a little.
The trip was simple, and after finishing a pot of ginger and fermented black beans, they ate two bowls of hot rice with some seasonings and winter vegetables, and their stomachs were full. Then, Zhao Ding, one of the three, was from Hedong, and he took his entire family who had fled with him, so he returned to the tent outside to take care of his family, while Hu Yin simply stayed and prepared to sleep with Zhang Jun.
However, just as the three were about to get up and say goodbye, they suddenly heard a commotion outside, and then they saw a fire lit up in the outer military camp from a distance, and several torches came here at high speed. It seemed that some scouts and messengers were riding horses in the camp regardless of the late hour, alarming the families of some officials.
The three of them looked at each other without saying much, and rushed to the central hall together... But while they were still on the way, they heard accurate news:
The main force of the Jin army suddenly appeared in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The vanguard Wanyan Zongbi, also known as Wanyan Wushu, the fourth prince of the Jin army, had more than 50,000 troops and had crossed the river, heading straight for the east road of Jingdong! From Liangshan Lake to the east, the entire line along the Yellow River was in danger!
"The emperor actually guessed it right, Jin Wushu really came!" In trance and shock, Zhang Jun instinctively thought of the reminder that Zhao Jiu gave to Zong Ze in Mingdao Palace in the past.
